Ellen DeGeneres is dealing with a negligence lawsuit in relation to a 2023 incident where she allegedly crashed into someone after running a stop sign.
In the lawsuit, the plaintiff alleges that the talk show host went through a stop sign without stopping and "t-boned" her vehicle on October 16, 2023, in Santa Barbara County.
The woman claims that she came to a complete stop at the intersection, ensured there wasn't any other vehicles approaching, and then was struck by DeGeneres' car "suddenly and without any warning."
Furthermore, the plaintiff claims that she sustained "multiple serious personal injuries and damages" because of the crash and lost wages, racked up medical expenses, and experienced "loss of enjoyment of life, emotional distress and anxiety."
The lawsuit alleges that DeGeneres exhibited "negligent conduct [that] fell below the standard of care of a reasonable person." The plaintiff is seeking an undisclosed amount of compensatory damages.
The alleged accident happened a year after DeGeneres' talk show ended. The show ran for 19 seasons between 2003 and 2022 and, in its final years, became the center of a controversy about her allegedly being "mean" and toxic to her employees.
DeGeneres spoke on the allegations during her Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval Netflix special last year. "I'm happy not being a boss or a brand or a billboard, just a person," she said. "Just a multifaceted person with different feelings and emotions, and I can be happy and sad and compassionate or frustrated."
She added: "I have OCD and ADD. I'm honest. I'm generous. I'm sensitive and thoughtful. But I'm tough, and I'm impatient, and I'm demanding. I'm direct. I'm a strong woman."
She also revealed that being in comedy made her "care what people think."
"If they like you, you're in, and if they don't, you're out. And I've spent an entire lifetime trying to make people happy and I've cared far too much what other people think of me," she said. "So, the thought of anyone thinking that I'm mean was devastating to me, and it consumed me for a long time."
"After a lifetime of caring, I just can't anymore," she continued. "So I don't. But if I'm being honest... and I have a choice of people remembering me as someone who was mean or someone who was beloved. Be-lov-ed? Beloved? Beloved. Someone who is beloved? I choose that."
